Skid-pallet combination



Aug. 23, 1960 W W PHILLIPS SKID-PALLET COMBINATION Filed Sept. 14, 1959Mi IM,

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WEN DELL w. PHILLIPS United States Patent SKID-PALLET COMBINATIONWendell W. Phillips, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Eli Lilly andCompany, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Sept. 14,1959, Ser. No. 839,749

v4 Claims. (Cl. 248-120) This invention relates to skids such as areused in warehouses and the like to support goods for ready movement byfork lift trucks.

As is well known, skids are used to support a single load in spacedrelation from the floor for easy pick up by a lift truck. Double-facedpallets are used primarily for supporting a second load upon a firstload, the lower face of the pallet providing extensive bearing surfacefor resting upon the lower load and the upper face of the palletsupporting the upper load. Pallets having two faces are sometimes usedas skids, i.e., with their lower face resting directly on the floor andthe upper face supporting the load. Since pallets have two faces, theyare generally more expensive than skids which have only the upper face.

In handling quantities of materials for storage, such as in warehousingoperations, there is required, of necessity, a relatively largeinventory of both forms of material-supporting devices, i .e., bothskids and pallets.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a skid which is soconstructed and arranged that it may, in combination with another skidof identical construction, be separably interfitted with said other skidto form a double-faced pallet whereby the large inventory above referredto may be substantially reduced.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the detaileddescription and claims to follow.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is an end elevation showing my improved skid loaded and alsoshowing two of the skids assembled together to form a double-facedpallet which is also shown supporting a load,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my improved skid in upright position,certain parts being broken away for clearness of illustration, and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but with a skid shown in invertedposition ready for the skid shown in Fig. 2 to be slid into cooperative,companion position with it.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, my improved skid includes threespaced-apart, longitudinally extending stringers or runners 1t), 11 and12 of wood or other suitable material. A series of slats or deck boardsof wood or other suitable material extend transversely across the upperedges of the runners and are secured thereto by nails, screws, or othersuitable fastening means such as shown at 14. The outer end runner ispositioned substantially flush with the ends of said deck boards 13. Theinner face of runner 10 is provided with a cleat 15 adjacent the loweredge thereof, the upper face of the cleat lying in spaced relation tothe under surface of deck boards 13. Cleat 15 preferably is shorter inlength than runner 10 and its fore and aft ends are beveled as at 16.Runner 12 is likewise provided with a cleat 17 similar to the cleat '15,the cleat 17 being secured adjacent the lower edge of runner 12 inspaced relation from deck boards 13. The opposite ends of cleat 17 arebeveled as at 18 similar to the bevels 16 provided f. ce

on cleat 15. Runner 12 and its cleat 17 are inset from the opposite endsof deck boards 13 a distance substantially equal to the thickness ofrunner 10 plus the width of its associated cleat means 15. Intermediaterunner 11 is offset from the center of the distance between the inneropposed sides of end runners 10 and 12 an amount substantially equal tothe thickness of said intermediate runner. With the structure as justdescribed in upright position as shown in Fig. 2 there is provided askid which will serve the purpose of the conventional three-runner skidspresently commercially available. The materials such as indicated at 19(Fig. 1) may be stacked for storage upon deck boards 13.

When it is desired to convert the skid into a doublefaced pallet, it ismerely necessary to take another skid of identical construction and toinvert it as shown in Fig. .3. The forks indicated in dot and dash linesat 20 (Fig. 2) of a lift truck (not shown) are moved under deck boards13 of the upright skid (loaded or unloaded) and by means of the truckthe upright pallet is slid in the direction of the arrows 21 intocooperative, companion position with the inverted skid shown in Fig. 3.The offset intermediate runners serve to guide the sliding together ofthe two skids and prevent any substantial lateral displacementtherebetween. The cleat means 15 and 17 come into vertical alignment asshown in Fig. l and prevent any substantial vertical displacement of theskids with respect to each other as the thus formed pallet is raised formounting say, upon-the load 19 as shown in Fig. 1. The beveled ends 16and 18 of cleats 15 and 17, respectively, aid in effecting a smoothslidingtogether action. The opposed ends of each of the runners 10,11and 12 may be, and preferably are, rounded adjacent their lower edges asat 22 to facilitate the sliding together of two skids to form adouble-faced pallet.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a simple and inexpensive skidconstruction which lends itself to ready conversion into a double-facedpallet by simply longitudinally joining two skidstogether in the mannerabove described.

I claim:

'1. A skid usable separately as such or usable in combination withanother skid of identical construction to form a double-faced pallet;said skid comprising two longitudinally extending end runners and onelongitudinally extending intermediate runner; deck boards extendingtransversely across and secured to the upper edges of said runners; oneend runner being positioned substantially flush with the ends of saiddeck boards; the other end runner being inset from the opposite ends ofsaid deck boards; cleat means extending longitudinally of and secured tothe inner side of said flush-positioned end runner and the outer side ofsaid inset end runner in spaced relation from said deck boards; thedistance of inset of said inset runner being substantially equal to thewith respect to each other during use as a double-faced pallet. I

2. A skid usable separately as such or usable in combination withanother skid of identical construction to form a double-faced pallet;said skid comprising two longitudinally extending end runners and onelongitudi- 3 nally extending intermediate runner; deck boards eXtend ingtransversely across and secured to the upper edges of said runners; oneend runner being position substantially flush with the ends of said deckboards; the other end runner being inset from the opposite ends of saiddeck boards; cleat means extending longitudinally of and secured to theinner side of said flush-positioned end runher and the outer side ofsaid inset end runner in spaced relation from said deck boards adjacentthe lower edges of said inset and flush-positioned runners; the distanceof inset of said inset runner being substantially equal to the thicknessof said runner plus the width of its associated cleat means; and saidintermediate runner being offset from the center between the inner,opposed sides of said 4 the two skids and preventing any substantiallateral displacement therebetween and said cleat means serving toprevent any substantial vertical displacement of the skids with respectto each other during use as a double-faced pallet.

3. A skid according to claim 1 wherein said cleat means on said insetand flush-positioned end runners terminate intermediate the ends of saidrunners and are provided with beveled ends.

4. A skid according to claim 1 wherein the oppose ends of each of saidrunners are rounded adjacent their lower edges to facilitate the saidsliding together of the two skids to form a double-faced pallet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

